


Shooting Stars

by SingMeToYourSide



Category: Shelter 2 (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 01:09:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10177166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingMeToYourSide/pseuds/SingMeToYourSide
Summary: I just finished playing Shelter 2, and I wanted to write a little tribute to Inna and the cubs I failed to get through the game. So, here is a short story set at the end of the game.





	

     Inna huffed as she trotted in the direction of her den, her cub Hazel hot on her heels. Winter would be coming soon, and the rabbit population around the den should have replenished after a summer and fall spent hunting deer on the lakeside. Hazel was big now, almost the size of Inna herself, and her hunting was coming along wonderfully. It was a relief, because Inna had been feeling very weak lately.

     Driven by the urge to protect her last cub from the same fate as her three others, Inna had given almost every bit of prey she caught to the still-learning hunter. Whole deer and rabbits had been given to Hazel, while Inna scarfed down a mouse or two when the hunger really clawed at her stomach. No matter what, her cub had to survive. 

     The sound of just her own pawsteps hit her ears, causing her to pause and look back. Hazel stood stock-still, staring off at the distant mountains. Inna padded back to her, calling to the young lynx in an attempt to catch her attention once more. They needed to be getting to the den; they couldn’t be wasting time when the snow would start to fall any day now. But no matter how much she called, Hazel didn’t respond.

     Growing desperate, Inna nudged at her cub. Hazel finally seemed to snap out of it. He huffed at her mother, then broke out into a full-out run across the heather-dotted slope. Inna yipped in surprise, tearing off after her. But she was exhausted, and she soon slowed to a mere shuffle as she wailed loudly for her cub to come back. Hazel couldn’t leave her; she didn’t want to be alone again. 

     She had already decided the last litter would be the final one, and she couldn’t bear to part from her only surviving cub. However, Hazel was gone. It hadn’t taken her long to disappear over a hill, and there was no way Inna would be able to keep up with her in her current condition.

     Heartbroken, she walked the rest of the way back to the den, refusing to hunt for herself on the journey back. She lay for several nights in the nest she had once shared with her cubs, mourning as if Hazel had died and not simply grown old enough to want to strike out on her own.

     It was one night, several days later, when Inna was sleeping fitfully in her den, that the stars whispered to her once more. They called her from her sleep, beckoning her to follow them.

     Getting to her feet, she found them hardly able to hold her weight. She wobbled, and almost collapsed again, but another whisper seemed to give her just enough strength to drag herself out of the den and out underneath the stars.

     Again, they insisted she follow them, and she didn’t dare disobey. Before, they had shown here to the cozy den, surrounded by the rabbits she had needed to help her cubs survive. 

     This time, they beckoned her back towards the mountain. She hoped they might lead her to Hazel, but she worried if she would be able to make it. Her paws, while still holding, wobbled with each step and she was sore all over. But still she followed, eyes never leaving the stars that seemed to dance just out of her reach. 

     Hopping over a small rocky outcropping, Inna collapsed with a cry of pain. She looked for the next star, but saw none. Letting out a sob, she made no effort to get up and let her head sink to the dirt. The world went black as her eyes slowly slid shut.

     When she opened her eyes again, she felt better than she had in a long time. Surprised, she leaped to her paws and found she felt as energetic as when she had been a young adult. She looked up, and the stars seemed closer than ever. They called to her, urging her to jump up into them. Feeling giddy at her sudden energy, she bunched her muscles and leaped towards the stars. She shrieked as she realized she was not going back down, looking down. 

     Her paws were no longer touching ground, but that was not what surprised her the most. Several feet below her paws was her own body, gaunt and dull-pelted. Her body was sprawled in the dirt, and she realized now what had happened. Suddenly less excited, she looked back up at the stars. She tried jumping a few more times, getting higher and higher each time.

     Voices called to her again, but they were slightly different from the gentle, entrancing sound of the stars. Looking up again, she realized why. Her other cubs bounded down from among the stars. Little Bark, who had been barely a season old when an eagle had swooped down and carried him away, came tumbling into her first. The next to reach her was Dew, who had perished on the lakeside when he had gotten separated from Inna and the other two cubs. Last of all was Moor, her brave little cub who had disappeared in her first fall. Inna had never been able to figure out what had happened to poor Moor. One moment, Inna had been dragging a deer back to them and the next, it was just Inna and Hazel.

     But none of that mattered now. Inna nuzzled each previously-lost cub, joy overwhelming her as they cuddled up against her. They held no resent for her not being able to save them; death was part of life. All were equal in death, and there was no pain anymore. Yowling loudly in joy, Inna raced into the stars with her cubs following her closely.

     In the forest far below, five bodies were pressed together in a cozy den. Hazel nuzzled her cubs, glancing out at the sky. As she watched, four stars shot across the sky. She laid her head back down, taking it as a good sign as she slept beside her cubs. Spring would be coming soon.


End file.
